30 people become U.S. citizens during Independence Day-themed ceremony in Greeley

Ricardo Melendez de la Torre smiles as he gains his citizenship during the naturalization ceremony Tuesday at Centennial Village, 1475 A St. in Greeley. Melendez was one of 14,000 people across America to become a new citizen Tuesday. (Joshua Polson/jpolson@greeleytribune.com)

Two-month-old Mahaila Garfield wore a red, white and blue dress designed with tiny stars and stripes on Tuesday, the day her mother became an American citizen.

As her dad, Alex, held Mahaila during a naturalization ceremony at Centennial Village in Greeley, where her mother, Vanessa, took the Oath of Allegiance, she slept. She didn't know it, but everything about her — right down to her name — represented her mom's journey to citizenship.

Proud to be an American

More than 14,000 people became U.S. citizens across the country July 3 in more than 75 ceremonies, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

With just a few extra letters added in, Mahaila's first name means "love" in the Philippines, where her mother was born. Her last name, Garfield, ties her to her great-great-great-great-grandfather on her dad's side, President Andrew Garfield.

Her great-grandfather landed on the Philippines during World War II. Decades after that, Mahaila's birthday came April 19, four days before her mom was supposed to take her U.S. citizenship test.

"We had to delay it, which is perfect right now," Vanessa said. "We made it, almost to the Fourth of July, with a baby."

She said they met just less than a decade earlier in Fort Collins, where they live now, while Vanessa was on a work trip for her former job at GoAbroad, a travel company with an office in the Philippines. On her trip, she met one of Alex's friends, who was working in the Fort Collins office.

Vanessa Garfield raises her hand as she recites the oath during the naturalization ceremonyTuesday at Centennial Village, 1475 A St. in Greeley. (Joshua Polson/jpolson@greeleytribune.com)

"We all went out for drinks, and here we are after seven years," Alex said.

Their story was one of 30 represented during Tuesday's ceremony, where immigrants from 16 countries became citizens. After hearing speeches from officials from the offices of U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo.; Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo. the 30 took their last step toward becoming U.S. citizens by reciting the Oath of Allegiance, which asked them to renounce allegiance to foreign governments and promise to defend the Constitution.

The ceremony's keynote speaker, Weld District Court Judge Elizabeth Strobel, asked each of the residents to read the Constitution and about the history of the U.S., vote and participate in juries. Above all, she told them to share their stories.

Andrew Lambrecht, director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services field office in Denver, highlighted all of the countries represented during the ceremony, saying each of the residents who traveled from them are making the U.S. better.

"Thank you for making the choice to become an American," he said, later adding that millions of other people still are seeking to follow the same path to citizenship. "We have these ceremonies here, hopefully, to inspire those who may be thinking about becoming citizens."

Jose Luis Tello raises his hand as he is recognized during the naturalization ceremony Tuesday at Centennial Village, 1475 A St. in Greeley. (Joshua Polson/jpolson@greeleytribune.com)

Before the event, Cindy Welsh, a former outreach librarian for the High Plains Library District, said the district started hosting the ceremonies in 2014 to go along with citizen preparation classes offered by the libraries. With help from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services field office, the ceremonies invite immigrants from all over northern Colorado to participate.

For many of the new citizens, the ceremony followed months, years or even decades of waiting and studying before taking a citizenship test and completing an interview.

"I get choked up," Welsh said. "This is the American dream. It really is."

Evans resident Adip Dsouza, who is originally from India, attended the ceremony with his wife, Melissa Dsouza, and two children, Makenna and Nikhil.

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He moved to the U.S. in 2003 to attend college in Texas. Shortly after that, he met Melissa in a computer science class.

"I asked her to study with me," he said. "Well, I wanted to go on a date, but that's the only way I could get her to go out with me."

When he finished school, part of him wanted to go back to India, but he knew it was time to leave that life behind him when he started a family.

"It's a beautiful life that we've started here, and I want to continue it," he said.

— Sara Knuth covers government for The Tribune. You can reach her at (970) 392-4412, sknuth@greeleytribune.com or on Twitter @SaraKnuth.